


An Iberian Magpie's Wings

by VoidLeviathan



Series: Half Life Fics among other things [3]
Category: Half-Life
Genre: Alternate Universe - Wings, Fluff, Its very light almost not noticable mostly just in like, Light Angst, Light-Hearted, Secrets, Wings, explaining the winged, just a little hint of Freehoun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:02:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25761055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VoidLeviathan/pseuds/VoidLeviathan
Summary: Gordon's bored in his tank but its okay Barney's there to cheer him up and tell him secrets.
Relationships: Barney Calhoun & Gordon Freeman
Series: Half Life Fics among other things [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1757260
Comments: 2
Kudos: 64





	An Iberian Magpie's Wings

Gordon was bored. Living in a tank for a good portion of your life did that to you. Sure Eli and Isaac both meant well and did attempt to give him what entertainment they could, but none of it did much for him after hours upon hours of simply floating in what was basically liquid air.

The winged subject wanted  _ out  _ of the tank. He wanted to move, to speak, to stretch his wings! Eli always mentioned something about him not being stable enough to do that yet without risk of death. Something about how thats what caused them to lose other prototypes. Gordon wondered how many others there still were like himself.

His thoughts of escape were cut off by a loud beep the lab sounded anytime someone opened the main door. That was odd, last Gordon was aware it was nearly three in the morning. There were never any scientists around that time unless Isaac happened to stay later than usual or Breen came by to write some things down. With curiosity, Gordon kept his eyes locked on the second door to the lab.

To his surprise the person who walked in was no scientist, but instead the one and only Barney Calhoun.

"Hey doc!" Barney waved to the subject in his tank, "Sorry if I startled you or something. Decided I should stop by and maybe hang out a little if uh- you're cool with that."

" _ I'm more than okay with that! _ " Gordon happily signed, black wings slightly fluttering, " _ Did you bring anything interesting at all? Eli left me with this rubik's cube but I kinda solved the thing at least ten times over. _ "

"I got my laptop but thats 'bout it. Don't really have anything I could stick in there for you to mess with." Gordon pouted, causing Barney to laugh. "But uhm...before I bring out my laptop I- well- I need to show you something but…" a pause. Gordon always knew what those meant.

" _ I can't tell anyone about whatever you have or are going to show me? _ "

"Bingo. Subject Freeman strikes again at knowing people way too well."

" _ You learn to read people easily when you've been stuck in a tank as long as I have. _ " Gordon shrugged, " _ So what're you going to tell me? Something exciting? That I'm allowed out of the tank maybe? _ "

"Unfortunately a no for the tank but...yes for maybe something exciting? It just really depends on how you look at it. I know you can keep secrets and uhm...well you see its…damn how do I explain…"

" _ Something important to you and your safety that you'd rather others not know about. _ "

"Took the words straight out of my mouth." Barney nervously laughed, fiddling with the hem of his shirt. Whatever he wanted to show Gordon must have been really important to make him this nervous about it. 

"Alright. So- you know how I told you in the stories that winged were often thought to hide their wings using a special charm? And that uhm...the wings with the charm would take form of tattoo like markings on their backs so no one knew the wiser and they started to blend in?"

Gordon nods." _ And you explained that over time the winged began to disappear because of their overuse of the charms. That the charms over time made it so their wings would stay in the tattoo state if the charm was broken and thats how they died out. _ "

"Yep. And then uh...Black Mesa...they started the project to create new winged life artificially and made you, among others. Well what if I told you that...that there were actual winged still out there. People not made in Black Mesa but born into a family. A rare occurrence where a child just...happens to inherit wings…"

" _ I'm...not completely sure I follow, Barney. _ " An obvious lie. Gordon had a feeling he knew exactly where this was going. Exactly what Barney was attempting to possibly be getting at with this. His feathers quivered slightly with anticipation as he waited for an answer.

“I...dammit all look just-” Barney yanked what looked like a small necklace from around his neck. Gordon had never noticed the trinket before, assuming Barney kept it safely hidden underneath his work uniform. The winged subject didn’t have much of a chance to blink when Barney suddenly sprouted wings from his back as if this was something that naturally happened to most people. It looked painful in a sense, Barney clearly using up a good portion of his energy when it happened. Soft gray blue feathers stretching out completely in the light illuminating the room from Gordon’s tank.    
  
Gordon was at a loss for words. From the stories he was told, the winged didn’t naturally exist anymore. They’d vanished, gone missing, stopped being around for so long Black Mesa had to make them in attempts to bring them back. To see something so rare yet so different from himself….   
  
“Now I know this is a lot. I mean- heh- I don’t really just go around showing people my wings like this. Don’t want Black Mesa to hold me captive if they uh- anyway…"

" _ They look really soft. _ " 

Barney snorted, "I guess you could say they're soft. I try and keep them cleaned up and properly preened. Been told by my mom that they resemble a Iberian magpie's wings. Don't uh...don't know what my 'special singular power' is yet though."

"... _ We have powers? I didn't- _ "

"Yeah! The uh- the winged always had one very special ability to them passed down from generation to generation. A singular power that could range from things like invincibility to empathic abilities. Usually they simply had to do with protection, something they developed to keep themselves safe. You know one of the prototypes here that they made set himself on fire? That shits scary…." Gordon hummed, or Barney at least assumed it was a hum. He couldn’t really tell with how muffled the tank made him sound.    
  
“But uhm…” Barney’s wings flitted slightly, feathers still adjusting to be released from their previous form. Was he anxious? Gordon didn’t really blame him if he was.   
  
“ _ Thank you for trusting me to know this, Barney. _ ”    
  
“Its the least I can do. Give you something to look forward to when they finally let you out of there, yeah?” Gordon nodded. It  _ was _ something to look forward to. He wanted to feel how soft Barney’s wings were, wanted to study them too. Wanted to hold him. He would just have to wait a month.    
  
Just a month until Gordon was finally able to be freed from the confinement of his tank.    
Just a month until Black Mesa fully fell apart due to an unfortunate incident no one could have predicted. 

**Author's Note:**

> You thought I only had a hlvrai wing au?  
> You fools!   
> I have a wing au for HL too!
> 
> This was just somethin' fun to write, trying no to really make it sad or anything. Just a lil light hearted.


End file.
